The GumdropButton Blog

After a long break, the Gumdrop Button Blog is back!​This time of year, we're thinking about holidays--and travelling. And those long road trips! "Are We There Yet??"!! (which is one of the best travel games we've found, ask us for the handout with the variations on the basic game). Fun for adults too, but drivers, sorry, you'll have to keep your eyes on the road!

Of course, we have many toys in the store which help to pass the hours in the car, on the plane, and even ideas for burning off energy at rest stops or for rainy days at the cabin. And, see below for our list of fun games, tried, tested, and approved, FREE!, and no extra equipment required!

If you need anything for travel, stop by the store and our helpful staff will have plenty of suggestions. We also have a list of ideas you can take home, sometimes you can re-purpose what you already have.​Happy travels, happy 150th Canada!, until next time...

Nancy, Megan & staffGingerbread Toys

Games to Play in the Car

Photo Credit: Uwe Niklas

Endings: Pick a theme (e.g., animals). One person says a word in the category and the next person says another word beginning with the last letter of the previous word. For example, monkey-yak.

Alphabet Game: Can you think of a city, name, fruit, or colour that starts with each letter of the alphabet?

The "other" Alphabet Game: Find the letters A-Z in order on the signs or license plates. Anything goes as long as it's outside the vehicle. The first person to spot a letter gets to use it. Change it up by doing number 0-9 after the letters. Or finding A-Z, 0-9, and then 9-0, Z-A. For a more advanced version if you're in an urban area, only letters starting a word can be used.

Travel Bingo: An adult can make up bingo "cards" with different pictures, words, numbers or letters for the kids to find as they drive. There's lots of free printable cards like these online too if you don't want to make your own!

Stories: One person starts a story and the next person adds a sentence. Use a story in a book and ask for nouns, verbs, etc... to replace the ones in the book.

Name that Tune: One person hums or sings a song. The person who guesses the tune hums next.

Jim Dandies: Pick a word and see how many rhyming words or sentences you can say.

License Plate Scrabble: Be the first to make a word out of the letters on a license plate. Add any letters you want but keep the letters on the license plate in the same order. For example, WLK=walk, FLD=flood.